


Lessons

by dolfabre



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [2]
Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Just very lowkey tho, Mid-Game, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt, lowkey angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 19:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11996721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolfabre/pseuds/dolfabre
Summary: Tear often helps Luke study, but doesn't expect Luke to teach her a lesson in turn.





	Lessons

The sounds of a pencil scratching on paper weren’t uncommon in the late hours of night. Neither were the soft yet crisp sounds of the pages turning in a book. But a quiet chatter was often accompanied as the rest of the inn building fell to an almost deadly silence.

“And this one..?” A gloved finger carefully pointed to and traced the question as she asked it, before shifting and resting once again on the table.

“The fourth fonon,” Luke offered, his tone confident in his answer. He turned to Tear, a glimpse of doubt sparkling in his eyes. “… is the answer, right?”

A light smile (and somewhat rare) brushed upon Tear’s lips as she gave a nod of reassurance in Luke’s direction. “Your answer is correct, Luke. Try to have more confidence, but… as I said earlier, you’re doing a lot better than when you started.”

“Thanks for helping me study, Tear,” he smiled in return, gently scratching his cheek as he turned back to writing notes. “You really didn’t have to keep doing this considering…”

“Considering?” she questioned, a hint of confusion to her voice.

“Considering all the things we’ve – you’ve been doing recently. With the miasma and everything, you shouldn’t be pushing yourself too hard.”

Tear gave her companion a sigh, shaking her head in turn. The smile before had been replaced by her usual frown, and the demeanour surrounding her had seemed to change in a way Luke couldn’t find words to explain. “Luke, I’m fine. And I’m not pushing myself too hard.”

He simply gave a frown towards her in reply. Giving himself a moment to catch his breath, the noble carefully yet firmly voiced his thoughts as clearly as possible – a feat that seemed almost unimaginable a few months ago. “But what if you do push yourself too hard? Tear, you’ll… get even more sick, or worse.”

“I appreciate your concern, but this is our mission. It’s above everything else. If I die in the process, so be it.” Her reply was almost immediate and equally as firm, but her voice even so remained hushed. “I accepted this as a possibility when I joined the knights, and if it happens – it happens.”

The room fell silent as Luke bit his lip. She could be stubborn – and it was something Luke had always known well. The pencil in his hand had gently been put down on the page of the notebook he had been writing in. Green eyes looked to the table in concentration, as his thoughts attempted to find another route in talking to her. It took another few seconds before an idea clicked – and knowing she would willingly rather walk away from this, he knew he needed to act quickly on this.

Letting a sigh fall from his lips, he looked at the knight once more. This time he looked her more closely, watching his own reflection in her eyes of blue. His fists clenched in anticipation, even as his expression looked somewhat calm and composed. “If you don’t want to talk about it then say so. Don’t lie and pretend to be fine when you clearly aren’t. Just… please, don’t lie to me, Tear. You’re an important member of our team; I don’t think we could’ve got this far without you.”

Maybe it was the surprise of it all – of the noble trying this much to get through to her. Maybe it was the fact that she was just a little tired. Maybe it was the miasma poisoning. But something in Tear had frozen, and words to counteract his own had ceased. She refused to believe that he was right, but knew full-well if he were in her own position, she would do the same. Moving her head down, breaking the eye contact they held, a single word was eventually muttered on her side. “… fine.”

“Meaning that… you’ll promise?” he asked, just to make sure.

“I’ll promise,” she stated in return.

A somewhat reassured smile had grown on Luke’s lips, and a shade of pink faded into his cheeks. But the look in his eyes was much more determined than before. “It’s not a real promise until you pinky promise.”

“Luke…” Tear gave a sigh and raised a brow in his direction, but offered her smallest gloved finger even so. There was a part of her that just couldn’t refuse to.

His own finger hooked around her own, before giving a gentle nod to the other. “There we go. It’s a promise.”


End file.
